Reading Jeffrey C. Alexander, Part II: The theoretical core (and its tensions)

In ‘Part II’ of this two-part article, we provide a general schematic with which to introduce the Alexanderian vision of sociology. This vision comprises the following five commitments: (a) a commitment to structural voluntarism and the moral dimension of human action; (b) a commitment to multidimensionality; (c) a commitment to the centrality of meaning in social life, and thus to culture's autonomy; (d) a commitment to a postpositivist conception of social science; and (e) a commitment to democracy as a utopian ideal. In addition to elaborating this vision, we also explore its theoretical tensions and strains, and the way these serve as a fecund source of generative thought and theoretical development − giving rise to new problems, as well as new attempts at resolution.